Momo celebrating time to read: Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web by Lucy Brownridge illustrated by Hannah Abbo

Friday, August 2, 2024

Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web by Lucy Brownridge illustrated by Hannah Abbo

This is a powerful book, that teaches children about a hugely important discovery in contemporary science, about a secret world beneath our feet and most importantly, about the strength that comes with asking for help, and discovering that you are not alone. Quarto

Children will likely discover hidden treasures each time they read the book—from worms to burrowing moles to buried bones—and these discoveries can expand learning with ecological conversations about subterranean dwellers and decomposers. Importantly, this story calls our attention to organisms often overlooked in our environment—plants and fungi.

The Wood Wide Web is a network made from strands, or hyphae of fungus. It exists under the forest floor and connects a tree's roots to other trees in the forest. The network enables trees to share all sorts of resources and signals with each other.

This book was the 2024 winner of the Giverny Award.

The Giverny Award is an annual children's science picture book award established in 1998 by Dr. Jim Wandersee and Dr. Elisabeth E. Schussler who was at that time affiliated with the 15º Laboratory at Louisiana State University.

This singular annual award is bestowed to the author and to the illustrator of the chosen book.
The book must be a children's science picture book written in the English language and published within five years of the award date. These books typically have ~ 32 pages and serve children between ages 4-8.
The book must teach its young reader at least one important scientific principle well, or encourage the reader toward specific science-related attitudes, pursuits, or inquiries.
The book's artwork, illustrations, photographs, or graphics must work in harmony with the text to tell an important story well.
The text must have a story with a plot and characters.
All other factors being equal, books about plants and/or plant science or biology will have preference. However, books on geobiology topics are also considered and have been chosen.
A book must be published in the English language to be eligible, but the award is international in scope.

Read the School Library Journal review. And here is the Kirkus review.

Little Tree and the Wood Wide Web is a nonfiction book [582.16] told in the form of a narrative. It is so important to add books like this to your library collection both as a book for teachers to use but also as a terrific way to share an interesting aspect of nature with young children. I first heard about this phenomenon though, in a fiction story - Mikki and Me and the Out of Tune tree - and then I went on to find other story books linked with this topic: